O'Farrell's own brief, John Agius, SC, is now putting questions to his client. Agius was counsel assisting the 1990s Wood Royal Commission into police corruption.

He asks O'Farrell about his phone call to Australian Water boss Nick Di Girolamo on April 20, 2011, around the time the newly-elected premier allegedly received the $3000 bottle of Grange from Di Girolamo.

The premier says that if he didn't receive the gift - as is his contention - then he didn't call Di Girolamo to thank him for it.

3:07pm on 15 Apr 2014

Watson has finished grilling O'Farrell. The lawyer for former energy minister Chris Hartcher, who is set to feature in the next ICAC inquiry into political donations starting on April 28, is putting questions to the premier.

O'Farrell says he doesn't recall Hartcher being a proponent of Australian Water's PPP plan.

The inquiry has heard allegations that Australian Water made "regular payments" to a slush fund linked to Hartcher in exchange for favourable treatment from the former minister

3:04pm on 15 Apr 2014

O'Farrell admits that he and Di Girolamo had each other's mobile numbers.

Asked how often they contacted each other, the premier says: "I don't recall the frequency but certainly we had phone numbers."

He says they would occasionally text about football and the contact was about "once a month" or "once every two months".

"I might have been returning calls," he says.

Barry O'Farrell said he occasionally exchanged texts with Nicky D G, maybe once a month #ICAC

Geoffrey Watson is pressing O'Farrell about the coincidental "collision" of dates: the premier allegedly receives a $3000 bottle of Grange and, just over a month later, he meets the alleged sender, Nick Di Girolamo, in state Parliament.

O'Farrell reiterates that he and his wife Rosemary have no recollection of the gift.

Asked about his involvement in a contract granted to Australian Water during his government, O'Farrell says he had no part in it "at all".

On the explosive subject of a $3000 bottle of wine allegedly couriered to his house at the behest of Australian Water boss Nick Di Girolamo, O'Farrell says he's "certain I would remember receiving a bottle of Penfolds Grange, certainly one from my birth year".

"I'm no wine connoisseur. I don't drink a lot these days, that's evidenced by my size," O'Farrell says of his slimmed-down physique.

"I noticed that," counsel assisting ICAC, Geoffrey Watson, SC, says.

"I commend you to it," O'Farrell quips, to a hearty roar from Watson.

O'Farrell drops a reference to his gym routine and Watson rejoins: "Stop boasting."

Counsel assisting ICAC, Geoffrey Watson, SC, is asking the question on everyone's lips: "How does a fellow like this, Mr Di Girolamo, get this kind of access to the premier?"

O'Farrell says that Di Girolamo was a former managing partner of a Sydney law firm, Colin Biggers & Paisley, was the head of a company doing work in the north-west and chaired the Italian Chamber of Commerce.

"I do think we need to judge people as we found them at the time and not with the benefit of hindsight," he says.

O'Farrell says he did not have a "partisan" interest in Australian Water but was interested in "land release". The company had positioned itself as being able to unlock the supply of new housing developments by providing access to water and sewerage infrastructure.

Barry O'Farrell is asked about the uncanny coincidence of "lots of money going in to Liberal Party coffers" from Australian Water around the time he wrote a letter of support for the company's proposal for a PPP while in opposition.

The Premier says he rejects "completely" any suggestion he was influenced by the donations.

"What drives me mad is perception," he says, warming to the subject. "I will not and do not make decisions on the perception of donations being made. What got under my skin [in opposition] was not just what I believed was happening under the former Labor government but the perception that all politicians were tarred by the same brush."

O'Farrell was then Opposition Leader and McConnell was emailing the then deputy chairman of Australian Water, now Liberal Senator Arthur Sinodinos, about Australian Water's plans for a PPP (with chummy salutations such as "comrade" and "keep fighting").

O'Farrell is not perturbed by McConnell suggesting he would welcome Australian Water chief executive Nick Di Girolamo sending a draft of a letter from O'Farrell supporting the PPP.

"He's really there going in to bat [for Australian Water] if you like, he's really encouraging them," Watson says.

Now the inquiry turns to the ticklish subject of Di Girolamo lobbying the O'Farrell government over a public-private partnership proposal with Australian Water Holdings.

ICAC has heard the family of corrupt former Labor minister Eddie Obeid were "secret stakeholders" in Australian Water and stood to make up to $60 million from the deal.

O'Farrell says he was aware of the proposal.

"No surprise there that a Liberal National Party or Coalition would be supportive of private sector delivery of services," says.

2:14pm on 15 Apr 2014

O'Farrell says it was "not all that common" for him to see Di Girolamo at football games.

But he adds: "Certainly when I went...it would not have been surprising if I'd seen Mr Di Girolamo".

Asked if Di Girolamo attended a $30,000 dinner with him, organised by the Italian Chamber of Commerce in aid of the Queensland flood appeal, he says: "I think so."

2:11pm on 15 Apr 2014

O'Farrell says he thinks he was in a car with Di Girolamo when they went out to inspect the work of AWH in Sydney's north-western suburbs.

He says he can't recall "in detail" a dinner at law firm Clayton Utz on June 10, 2009, which was attended by O'Farrell, Liberal fundraiser Paul Nicolaou, now the NSW chief executive of the Australian Hotels Association, and Di Girolamo, among others.

He says he had "no knowledge" of Australian Water Holdings until he became Opposition Leader and it appeared at the time that it served a "worthwhile purpose".

Barry O'Farrell is now in the wittness box, he looks nervous. #icac#nswpol